Hollow frame doors such as screen doors, for example are comprised of parallel top and bottom rails and parallel side rails, miter joints being provided at the corners to join the respective rails. The various rails of the door are preferably hollow and are generally rectangular in cross section. It is common practice to join the mitered corners by means of generally angular gussets comprised of a right angular base plate with edge flanges, the gussets being disposed within the connecting hollow rails. Obviously, a door of this nature is only as rigid, at the corner joints, as the gussets which form the connections between the adjoining rails. Various forces created by the stresses and strains imposed on the door from its own weight as well as from usage often flex, bend or twist the gussets, resulting in the opening of one or more of the miter joints.
While the gusset of the present invention is particularly adopted for use in the construction of screen doors, it is equally adaptable to the construction of other types of doors, windows, etc., and many articles where it is desired to join together articles at corners, or solid frames with miter corner joints.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a gusset for joining the miter joints of a hollow frame structure which provides the necessary rigidity and strength to prevent the miter joints from opening up, and which is designed to use substantially less material than other gussets heretofore used.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a gusset comprised of a first member providing two legs in the general form of an angle bracket with inwardly turned end flanges, and a second member, comprising a draw-bar, fixed in a spanning relation between the two legs of the angle bracket, including opposed end portions, angled relative to the main span thereof, engaged against the respective inner faces of the two legs inwardly of and adjacent to the inwardly turned leg flanges.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide an outwardly extending lug from each of the angled end portions to extend through a companionately shaped end sized hole through one of the inwardly turned end flanges, to securely hold the two members in assembly.
A still further object of this invention is to provide faster means, such as self tapping screws, passed through the outer edges of the doors and through enlarged clearance holes, provided in the angle bracket leg portions, and into threaded engagement in holes in the angled end portions of the draw-bar.